A Dream Within A Dream: Guardians Blog Tour: Tens List, Review + Giveaway

http://www.jeanbooknerd.com/2015/02/guardians-by-susan-kim-laurence-klavan.html

Welcome to my stop on the official blog tour for Guardians! Today I have a great tens list guest post to share with you along with my review of the book - and don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above.

Guardians (Wasteland #3)

Author: Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan

Genre: YA Dystopia

Release Date: March 24, 2015

Publisher: HarperTeen

Description:

The Emmy Award-nominated and Edgar Award-winning duo of Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan deliver a heart-pounding finale to the post-apocalyptic teen world of the Wasteland, filled with dramatic twists and turns. Bestselling author of Criminal, Karin Slaughter, called Wasteland "a Lord of the Flies for future generations. An irresistible page-turner."

No one dares to leave the District—the towering structure of glass and steel that is their protection against the unruly bands of Outsiders that roam Mundreel and the deadly rain that carries the disease that kills all over the age of nineteen.

This skyscraper stands amid the urban devastation, the city rumored to have once been called "Montreal." Esther and her allies have created a haven on the rooftop, a garden that flourishes, and a home for her new baby, hidden from all but the very few who know her secret. But as Gideon's power grows and factions form, the ultimate darkness is born from greed, and Esther must find a way to save the citizens from themselves.

Top Ten Favorite Books

SUSAN:
1. The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman (imaginative, dark, and unique. Genuinely subversive!)

2. The Dog Stars, Peter Heller (incredibly exciting dystopian tale of a man and his dog)

3. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle (a classic. It shaped my life and really made me want to be a writer)

4. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (ditto)

5. The Easter Parade, Richard Yates (hard-hitting, beautifully written portrait of two sisters)

LAURENCE:
1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (one of the great novels about childhood and race in America)

2. Lord of the Flies, William Golding (another classic: unforgettably captures the dark sides of being young)

3. Empire of the Sun, J.G. Ballard (a terrific autobiographical novel about a privileged child turned feral during WWII)

4. The Member of the Wedding, Carson McCullers (a heartbreaker about adolescence in the South)

5. True Grit, Charles Portis (a tremendous novel about a young girl in the old West )

Guardians is the gripping final book in the young adult dystopian Wasteland Trilogy. Esther, her friends, and her newest allies have created a safe place to call home in an old skyscraper in what was once Montreal. At their home, they have a garden on the rooftop so they can grow their own food and no longer have to worry about starving. The downside to this post-apocalyptic haven they've created is the Outsiders - groups of kids and teens that rule the street of the city and survive mainly by stealing or scavenging. There's also the toxic rain that everyone has to worry about - it kills anyone over the age of nineteen. The bands outside the District's walls are becoming more dangerous, and with Gideon gaining power over the outsiders, a real threat is looming over them all and it's just a matter of time before it's unleashed. It's up to Esther to save the others from themselves, before everyone and everything they've worked so hard to create is destroyed.

This was a solid final installment in a gripping dystopian trilogy that always had me reading as fast as I could to see what was going to happen next. There continues to be a ton of action in the book, so you never quite know what to expect. The plot was well done with a fast pace and lots of action. The world that was created in the book was incredibly detailed and vivid with imagery, so much so that I could easily envision it in my mind. The one thing that always got to me and pulled me out of the thrall of the book was the age of the characters. This happened with every book in the series. The characters all act and seem so much older than they really are - it always shocked me when I was reminded that they were only kids. Again, I understand why the authors wrote the plot this way, it fits with the whole dystopian atmosphere that the story takes place in. I couldn't really wrap my mind around the age of the characters and the way they acted and lived.

The plot was thrilling and full of tense moments and exciting twists. Being a dystopian book, not all of these were positive. Actually - the majority of them weren't. The book was well written with an intense storyline full of twists and turns, and definitely had me turning the pages to see what would happen next. Overall, I think this was a great final book in a series that grasps the reader at the beginning and doesn't let go until the very end. Definitely recommended for fans of science fiction and dystopias, as well as those who enjoy action and adventure.

SUSAN KIM is a playwright, TV writer, and author. Her two graphic novels w/co-author Laurence Klavan, “City of Spies” (artwork by Pascal Dizin) and “Brain Camp” (artwork by Faith Erin Hicks), were published by First Second Books in 2010. “Flow: the Cultural Story of Menstruation” (co-written w/Elissa Stein) was published by St. Martin’s Griffin in 2009. Plays include the stage adaptation of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club (Dramatists Play Service) and various one-acts that were produced in the EST Marathon, including Death and the Maiden, Rapid Eye Movement,Dreamtime for Alice (Dramatists Play Service and Farrar Strauss), and Memento Mori (Smith and Krauss). Her work has been produced internationally. Ms. Kim has been nominated five times for the Emmy and four times for the Writers Guild award for her work in both non-fiction and children’s TV; she won a WGA award in 1996 for Best Documentary. She lives in New York City, teaches dramatic writing in the MFA program at Goddard College and currently blogs for the Huffington Post.

LAURENCE KLAVAN wrote the novels, “The Cutting Room” and “The Shooting Script,” which were published by Ballantine Books. He won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the novel, “Mrs. White,” co-written under a pseudonym. His graphic novels, "City of Spies" and "Brain Camp," were co-written with Susan Kim and published by First Second Books at Macmillan. His short work has been published in The Alaska Quarterly, Conjunctions, The Literary Review, Gargoyle, Louisville Review, Natural Bridge, Pank, Stickman Review, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, among many other journals, and a collection is forthcoming from Chizine Publications. He received two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics of "Bed and Sofa," the musical produced by the Vineyard Theater in New York and the Finborough Theater in London in 2011. His one-act, "The Summer Sublet," is included Best American Short Plays 2000-2001.

Social Media: